


The Kissing Booth

by aliciameade



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Brotp, F/F, F/M, Kissing Booths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-14 18:40:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14775066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliciameade/pseuds/aliciameade
Summary: When Beca Mitchell, a late-bloomer who's never-been-kissed, decides to run a kissing booth at her high school's Spring Carnival, she unexpectedly finds herself locking lips with her secret crush - and best friend's sister - Chloe Beale.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to the very talented Beth Reekles who wrote this book which is now a movie from which this is adapted. She got her start writing on sites just like this, so all the kudos to her!
> 
> Also, since people are asking: at the start of this story since they are in 11th and 12th grade respectively, Beca's 16 and Chloe's 17.

Jesse is Beca Mitchell’s best friend.

 

They were born in the same Los Angeles hospital, on the same day, at the same time.

 

Their moms were best friends and they were raised like twins, and have been inseparable ever since.

 

Beca doesn’t remember much from before high school - it’s a big awkward blur of embarrassment and sadness - but for as long as she can remember, she and Jesse absolutely loved music.

 

They discovered the mutual affinity for it by accident through a chance encounter with a Guitar Hero arcade game at the Santa Monica Pier when they were tagging along with Jesse’s older half-sister and her friends. They’d strolled past it at first, intent on a game of Whack-A-Mole, when the shiny pair of red and black plastic guitars caught Beca’s eye. She challenged Jesse, and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

The arcade becomes their favorite hang-out - it’s how they burn off their adolescent energy, it’s how they let off steam and deal with the stress of middle school.

 

A lot of stuff happened between then and now, though.

 

The first Christmas Beca can remember, she was six. She got a Barbie Dreamhouse; Jesse got a scooter. Beca broke her leg riding Jesse’s scooter and Jesse signed Beca’s neon blue cast and brought her ice cream to make up for breaking her leg.

 

Beca dressed as a cowgirl for Halloween; Jesse dressed up as a doctor.

 

Jesse’s big sister, Chloe, chased off some kids who were harassing them over their ice cream cones one summer day.

 

It cost them both their ice cream in “Protection Tax,” but at least Chloe just ate their ice cream instead of shoving it in their faces or something.

 

She watched Jesse win his first spelling bee and watched Chloe win her first fight - a shrieking bout of hair-pulling with a fellow eighth-grade girl who’d called her a slut.

 

Beca dressed as a fireman for Halloween; Jesse went as some weird ancient Mexican bird they’d learned about and that Beca could barely pronounce.

 

Beca found out that her mom was sick and went to visit her in the hospital for the first time. She tried to get used to seeing her there, but it was hard.

 

She got in a fight with Jesse over who had the best freestyle guitar riffs and made up by getting him ice cream.

 

She got in a fight with Chloe for bullying Jesse by making Jesse do all her chores and made up with Chloe by letting her give her a makeover with the new makeup kit Chloe had purchased with her allowance.

 

Chloe was really good at makeup.

 

She got her first bra - which she didn’t really need. She discovered she liked soccer. They discovered a way to get to the Pier on the Los Angeles Metro system so they weren’t dependent on Chloe anymore to get there, though Chloe and her clique were usually there anyway.

 

She was 14 when she realized she wasn’t going to be a fashion icon and embraced her natural state of “constant fashion emergency,” having decided to own it and make it work. She discovered she was, however, good at sports, specifically soccer, and joined the Barden High School team.

 

That year she had a difficult conversation with her dad about her mom; the cancer was back. Worse. No longer treatable. She spent all the time she could in the hospital with her mom, telling her about school and soccer and Jesse.

 

She only let herself cry when her mom was asleep.

 

Beca almost got her first kiss from Benji Applebaum, but he sneezed in her face.

 

She also watched Chloe getting really, really, pretty as she practiced with the rest of the lacrosse team in the spring; it wasn’t her fault that she had to wait with Jesse who was waiting for Chloe every day for a ride home.

 

Chloe got in another fight - and she won, though it earned her a three-day suspension and nearly cost her her spot as lacrosse captain. Rumor has it, the fight (more like yelling and shoving than really fighting) was because someone had called 14-year-old Jesse a slur.

 

She got her period, FINALLY. At 15, she felt like the last one in her class to get it.

 

She dressed like a pirate that Halloween; Jesse went as Black Swan.

 

She said goodbye to her mom.

 

She had a lot to tell her; she told her all about Chloe.

 

She watched Chloe show up to school on the first day of Beca’s sophomore year on a motorcycle.

 

_A motorcycle._

 

Chloe Beale, the portrait of absolute femininity, drove to school on the first day of her junior year on a motorcycle. And not some Vespa or one of those neon-colored crotch rockets. No, she had an honest to God Harley Davidson.

 

Beca had never felt her heart do quite what it did that morning - at least, not up until that point.

 

She watched Jesse try to ride Chloe’s motorcycle which earned Jesse a lesson from Chloe about sitting on her motorcycle: a whole lot of yelling and the request, nay, demand that Jesse take out the trash for a month.

 

On their 16th birthday, Jesse got his dream car - a 1965 Ford Shelby Mustang GT350 convertible in midnight blue.

 

She learned that girls could be really mean for no reason.

 

She played Seven Minutes in Heaven and hoped for her first kiss again; instead, she clunked heads with the guy and it was too awkward to try again.

 

She got a bra that she suddenly did need and wondered why she still hadn’t been kissed or even been on a date. But she didn’t fixate on it. Not really.

 

She realized she had a crush on Chloe that summer.

 

And got over her crush on Chloe that summer...mostly.

 

* * *

 

She’s lounging poolside at Jesse’s totally awesome house. It’s the last weekend of summer and she’s spent the majority of it in this very lounge chair. It’s moments like this that make her wish things could stay this way forever.

 

Her phone chiming with a new text breaks her reverie and she picks it up to check it, immediately regretting doing so as a picture of someone’s junk fills her screen. “Ew, perv!” She looks around to show Jesse. “Jess! Check out what Bumper just texted the entire school!”

 

Jesse doesn’t respond though and is nowhere to be seen.

 

He finally makes himself known by a shout of, “Cannonball!” before he’s running and sprinting off the roof of the first level of his house.

 

Beca braces for it, holding her phone behind her back to protect it and catches half the pool in her lap. “Oh my God, dude - that was a good one!"

 

“I know!” Jesse says with a grin as he pushes water off his face and pulls himself back onto the deck.

 

“Come sit,” she says as she decides to get down to business for a few unfortunate minutes. “Tomorrow’s the first day of school and Student Council’s expecting our Gamers Club idea this week for the fall fundraiser. We’re going to be in trouble if we don’t come up with something fast.”

 

Jesse grimaces.

 

“Yeah, exactly.” She’s about to start spitballing ideas when something catches her eye on the other side of the pool.

 

Something so, so eye-catching.

 

Something like Chloe wearing half of her field hockey uniform - the bottom half, specifically, with what appears to be the top half thrown over her shoulder leaving her in nothing but light blue shorts and a gray sports bra which, Beca notices, fits very, very tightly. Her long red curls are tied up in a bun and every inch of upper body strength is on display.

 

_Like, wow._

 

_Yeah._

 

 _Chloe Beale is_ **_stupid hot._ **

 

But she and Jesse developed a list of friendship rules over the years. Jesse was responsible for Rule Number Nine, which specifically states, “ _Relatives of your best friend are totally off-limits._ ” It’s a really, really big one for Jesse, probably the result of living somewhat in the shadow of a living legend.

 

And it’s not like Jesse isn’t awesome. He’s awesome as far as Beca’s concerned. But his big sister is ostensibly more attractive and more athletic than he is, which are two characteristics required to be “cool” in high school.

 

“Hey Jess,” Chloe shouts across the pool, squinting into the sunlight, “have you seen my cleats?”

 

“Yeah, bitchface,” Jesse asks as she stands and closes a bit of the distance between them, “I needed them for all those varsity sports I’m constantly playing.”

 

The sarcasm makes Beca laugh and it seems to get Chloe’s attention.

 

“Hey, Becs,” Chloe says with a smile in her direction. Chloe knows she hates being called Becs.

 

“Yes, Chlo?” And Beca knows she hates being called Chlo.

 

“When did the boobs finally pop up?” Chloe asks as she points across the pool at Beca’s chest which is, admittedly, very much on display in her black and white bikini.

 

Jesse laughs. “When you were at hockey camp learning to be a better bitch. It was like she was on human growth hormones or something.”

 

Beca suddenly feels way, way too much on display and she grabs her towel to cover her cleavage. “Jess! Rule Number Two!”

 

_Rule Number Two: Never share our secrets with anyone._

 

“Whatever,” Chloe says with a shake of her head. “Mom and Dad are out of town Friday night, so the party starts at 8:00. Don’t invite any jerks.”

 

Jesse waits until Chloe’s turned and heading back to the house before cracking, “Does that include you?”

 

Beca’s already in her, “Ohhh!” harsh burn shout when Jesse spins to join her. She sees it coming but is still laughing and fails to warn him of the NERF football Chloe’s just fished from the edge of the pool to heave it right into Jesse’s back and knock him into the water with a yelp.

 

Chloe just winks at her and walks away, and Beca’s still laughing when Jesse’s pulling himself out of the pool. “What an ass!” he says with a sputtering bitterness.

 

But Beca’s not quite looking; instead, she’s watching Chloe walk away. “Yeah…” she says, admiring the short-shortness of the shorts against Chloe’s, well, everything.

 

“Hey, hey!” Jesse says, snapping in front of her face. “Rule Number Nine, young lady!”

 

Beca scoffs. “Oh, come on, dude. Seriously?”

 

“Yeah, well, you got a little bit of drool on the corner of your mouth,” Jesse says, pointing at his mouth.

 

“Oh, I do? Right here?” Beca points at her own and Jesse confirms it. “I do? Really?” She uses her words to distract Jesse long enough to grab the pool basketball from next to her chair and heave it at him.

 

He probably could have caught it or withstood the impact but he goes with it and lets it knock him back into the pool again.

 

* * *

 

The First Day of School.

 

It felt like a teenage year lived and died based on the success or failure of The First Day of School.

 

The good thing about school, as far as Beca was concerned, is the dress code. They had uniforms which all but eliminated her risk of fashion faux pas that other girls her age loved to use to ridicule. It was easy: always some combination of yellow, navy blue, or light blue.

 

She was going with a yellow short-sleeved button down, navy tie, and navy pants that she’d bought at the start of summer when the uniform warehouses had their approved options on clearance. She hadn’t bothered trying anything on over the summer, because why bother? And standing in front of her full-length mirror, she thinks she maybe should have.

 

Everything is snug and she knows she needs a size up, but it’s too late for that today so she decides to make do with it. It’s when she bends over to grab her backpack that the pants give out, splitting right down the back with a heartbreaking rip right as she hears Jesse honking out front.

 

“Shit!” she says as she whips through the hangers in her closet. “Dad, where are my other pairs of school pants?!”

 

“They’re at the cleaners!” floats back up to her.

 

It’s hopeless and there’s nothing left in her closet that qualifies for the dress code except the plaid skirt from 9th grade that she’d kept last year for emergencies. She hadn’t yet got around to having something for emergencies this year.

 

“9th-grade skirt on an 11th-grade body,” she says with dread as she looks at the scrap of blue plaid. “Perfect.”

 

She knows Jesse’s going to comment on it. “Don’t say anything!” she threatens as she climbs into his Mustang. The skirt is ridiculously short. Like, so short it should be illegal. “My pants ripped.”

 

Jesse just grins at her. “You should have back-ups.”

 

“My back-ups are at the cleaners.”

 

“What about your backup back-ups?”

 

“These are my backup back-ups!” she says as she shoves at Jesse to get him to shut up.

 

“Okay, okay! Seriously though, cover up. I’m trying to drive.”

 

“Oh my God, shut up!”

 

* * *

 

“Nice landing,” Beca snarks when Jesse hits the curb when pulls into a parking space.

 

Jesse smiles at her proudly. “If you ever got your driver’s license, you wouldn’t have to put up with my driving.”

 

“Why would I do that when I have you as my personal chauffeur?”

 

“True!” Jesse says even more proudly.

 

“And hey dude, we need fundraiser ideas. Today. Non-negotiable.”

 

“Fine,” Jesse says with a sigh as they get out of the car.

 

In the 20 minutes it took them to drive to school, Beca had forgotten about her backup back-ups. She hears people whistling and looks around to see what’s going on.

 

“Everyone’s looking at us,” Jesse says, and she’s confused. “Actually, everyone’s looking at _you.”_

 

“What?” Suddenly the wolf whistles and catcalls feel gross and invasive. “No, they’re not!”

 

“Beca, you do realize that you acquired a few curves over the summer, right?”

 

Beca’s horrified; for the first time in her semi-adult life, she doesn’t feel invisible. _Everyone_ is looking at her. She picks up speed toward the school and that’s when she feels it.

 

Someone smacks her ass.

 

She gasps and whirls and Jesse whirls with her to see a smug-looking Luke Davies awaiting a reaction.

 

“What the hell, Luke?” Jesse yells.

 

“It’s fine, Jess, I got this.” Beca knows exactly what she’s going to do: she’s going to give Luke a piece of her mind, and potentially, a kneecap to the groin.

 

“Relax, man.”

 

“How about I relax your _face?_ ”

 

“Jess, it’s fine! I got this! Jesse!”

 

But Jesse’s already winding up his punch, which he throws. His fist smacks right into Luke's waiting palm which wrenches Jesse’s arm to the side and Beca sees it happening in slow motion. Luke's wind up and Jesse bracing for it when a backpack suddenly smacks Luke in the face.

 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Chloe shouts as she gets between Jesse and Luke.

 

“Chloe!” Beca yells from shock more than anything.

 

“Whoa, little lady, back off.”

 

“Back off? Why don’t you back off Jesse and Beca?” Chloe shoves him and he flails, unsure how to handle a fight with a girl. Chloe doesn’t back off, though, instead she keeps shoving him until he stumbles backward and trips over the curb to land on his back with Chloe towering over him.

 

It’s the Vice Principal who finally intervenes. He helps Luke off the ground and yells, “You three, in my office - now!”

 

“Wait, me?” Beca asks meekly when she realizes it’s directed at her as well and not just Chloe and Luke.

 

She’s never been in the VP’s office; she knows how to play the sweet and innocent card, and it’s saved her hide a hundred times in the classroom.

 

“She even gets credit for my fights!” she hears Jesse grumble to himself as she turns to follow the VP into the building.

 

* * *

 

She has to wait her turn with the Vice Principal; Luke got the honors of going first so she and Chloe have to wait side by side on the cold wooden chairs of the opulent office of their private Barden High School.

 

“Why did you do that?” she whispers at Chloe.

 

“Jesse was in trouble,” Chloe mumbles as she stares at her iPhone.

 

Beca shakes her head. “Any excuse for a fight, right?”

 

That makes Chloe look up. “I don’t start fights; I only finish them.” She goes back to her phone.

 

Beca scoffs.

 

“But no one should treat a girl like that. Especially if that girl is you.”

 

Beca’s heart stops for a second and she looks at Chloe again. She hadn’t even had a chance in the chaos to appreciate the crisp white blouse, blue necktie, and blue plaid skirt (one that matched Beca’s, only a more school-appropriate length). “Me?”

 

“Yeah. It’s like those guys are trying to get in my baby sister’s pants, which is super gross.”

 

It was super great to hear her childhood crush say it’s super gross to get into her pants and that she sees her as a baby sister.

 

“You have zero experience with guys. You’ve never even had a boyfriend.”

 

Beca doesn’t know the point of this is, but she’s defensive nonetheless. “Whatever!”

 

“Wearing a skirt like that -” Chloe points at her. “They think you’re asking for it even though you’re not.”

 

The door interrupts their conversation and a meek-looking Luke exits. “Miss Mitchell?” the Vice Principal says to invite her into his office where she gets detention for violating the dress code.

 

* * *

 

There’s a group of girls at Barden that Beca likes to call the OMG Girls because at least 50% of their sentences begin with, “Oh, my God!” They’re the uber-popular girls, the girls that got their boobs in 7th grade, the girls who lost their virginity in 9th grade, the girls who were pretty and popular and - the one thing Beca _did_ like about them - none of them was 100% straight.

 

And for some reason, today they’ve sat down at the table where Beca’s eating her lunch while she waits for Jesse.

 

“Oh, my God, how crazy was that fight?” Flo asks without bothering to say hello.

 

Aubrey’s next. “Chloe was _so_ fierce!”

 

“Have you made out with her yet?” Stacie asks conspiratorially. “Oh, my God, I would totally have Chloe’s babies.”

 

Aubrey tosses her hair. “I heard she’s into blondes; too bad, Beca.”

 

“Give me your numerals,” Stacie says before Beca can even respond. “We should def catch up.”

 

Beca manages an, “Okay, yeah, it’s 310-”

 

But Stacie’s phone interrupts her and whatever it is, she shows Aubrey and Flo. “Gotta go, Becky. There’s a shemergency in the locker room.”

 

_A shemergency?_

 

“Sorry it didn’t work out between you and Chloe,” Aubrey says with a pout that is so fake it hurts. “Guess it wasn’t meant to be.”

 

They leave as quickly as they appeared and Beca’s left with her head spinning just as Jesse finally shows up to eat with her.

 

“What were the OMG Girls doing here? Did Aubrey ask about me? Did you tell her about my cute dimples?”

 

* * *

 

Jesse drags her shopping after school insisting on her advice in choosing “new threads” to wear at Chloe’s house party on Friday.

 

His options are horrifying, blinding, even, and Beca looks up from her phone and shakes her head at the atrocious floral print shirt he’s wearing half-buttoned.

 

“What are you doing?” he says as he returns to the fitting room unbothered by her rejection.

 

“Trying to find a good idea for the carnival fundraiser. _Somebody_ has to.”

 

Jesse returns wearing blue paisley.

 

“Come on, dude.”

 

He sighs and disappears again. “What about the strength game, with the hammer and the bell?”

 

“The chess team picked that one.”

 

Jesse sticks his head out through the curtain wearing a look of confusion.

 

“I know.”

 

“What about - ooh! What about a dunking booth?”

 

“Swim team.”

 

“Damn it!” He sticks his head out again.

 

“I know, dude, who saw that one coming?”

 

Jesse reveals himself again, this time in some atrocious blue and pink thing that makes Beca feels like she’s on acid. “Do you think Aubrey would like this one? Because I think it makes my eyes pop, and I really want to kiss her on Friday.”

 

“Come on!” she laughs. “Today was the first time the OMGs ever _spoke_ to me. Do you really think Aubrey knows who you are?”

 

“Baby steps, Beca. Baby steps.” He shuffles back to the fitting room.

 

“I mean, come on. She’s a varsity cheerleader. Basically, the only way she’d ever make out with you is if you paid for it.”

 

She hears it the second it’s out of her mouth and she gasps and leaps off the chair just as Jesse rips open the curtain.

 

“Kissing booth!” they yell in unison.

 

“Ooh, yeah that is the _perfect_ carnival fundraiser!” Beca congratulates herself and high-fives Jesse.

 

“Also, I love the irony. The girl who’s never been kissed does a kissing booth?”

 

Beca rolls her eyes. “Irony is a cruel mistress indeed.”

 

“Okay, well, all we need is Student Council to approve it.”

 

Beca knows how to debate and negotiate. “Leave that to me.”

 

“Great. He turns back to the fitting room and then stops. “Wait.” He pops the collar of a shirt more suited for a bullfighter. “What about this one?”

 

Beca takes it in and smiles. “Aubrey will love it.”

 

Jesse lights up. “Really?”

 

“No, dude! It’s awful!”

 

“Dammit!”

 

* * *

 

Beca’s sitting in detention with the rest of the members of their first-day scuffle when she hears a distinct, “Psst!” behind her.

 

She turns, confused by the guy sitting behind her handing her a folded piece of paper with her name on it. She takes it and glances at the teacher in charge of detention today but he’s immersed in his Beekeeping magazine so she unfolds it.

 

_“I’m sorry.”_

 

She wonders...and turns to look over her other shoulder at Luke sitting a couple seats back. He pouts his bottom lip and gives her puppy eyes. It makes her laugh despite herself and she sees him reach to pass another note.

 

_“What do I have to do to get your number?”_

 

She likes that one; if he wants it, he’ll have to work for it. She flips to a clean sheet of paper in her notebook, scribbles her demands, and passes it back and watches him read and consider it.

 

When she turns back, she catches Chloe watching her from a couple rows over; she looks disappointed. They exchange looks - Chloe asking her what she’s doing, Beca asking her why she cares, Chloe telling her she warned her.

 

10 minutes pass and she notices Luke's snuck out of the classroom with the help of the teacher now snoring at his desk, but he’s startled awake when the doors of the room burst open to reveal Luke wearing his boots, his football jersey, and a plaid skirt that Beca doesn’t want to know how he got. He’s proud and he poses and the rest of the students in detention whistle at him and the yearbook guy who’s always taking pictures of everything on his phone snaps away while Luke pouts for the camera and puts on a fashion show.

 

* * *

 

“I can’t believe you actually gave him your number,” Jesse says with a mouthful of cheeseburger while he holds Beca’s feet while she does sit-ups before practice.

 

“Well, it was a really nice apology. And that whole skirt thing was priceless!” It really was hilarious and while she knows Luke loves to be a class clown, this time he did it specifically for her and it was nice to have someone put themselves in an uncomfortable position for her for once.

 

“If word gets out that fighting me is a way of getting your number, I am in for a really long junior year.”

 

Beca sits up and stays up at that comment. “I wouldn’t really call it a fight.” She takes his burger and steals a bite. “I think I’m going to go out with him. Unless you think I shouldn’t.”

 

He shrugs. “You’re going to have to go on a date eventually.”

 

Beca takes another bite of his burger. “What do people even do on dates?”

 

“I dunno,” Jesse says with his mouth still full. “Sit around and eat food, I guess.”

 

Beca glances at their shared burger and patch of grass and exchanges looks with Jesse, and they both burst out laughing at their “date.”

 

* * *

 

Jesse drives Beca to the restaurant Luke's taking her to dinner at; she’s nervous and excited, but not really _excited_ -excited; she’s just excited to finally get the enormity of her First Date out of the way. “My heart’s beating so fast,” she says after stepping out of the convertible and turning back to talk to Jesse.

 

“That’s totally normal. I think.”

 

Beca frowns and then shakes her head. “Okay, well can you keep your phone on you? I know myself and I’m going to run out of things to talk about and -”

 

“No, no no no,” he interrupts. “You are not going to call me on your date.”

 

“Please let me call you,” she whines. “I know myself.”

 

“No, Beca! If he can’t see how awesome you are, then he’s not the right person for you.” He says it with such certainty that he makes it hard for her to disbelieve him.

 

“Gag me,” she says with a smile, and he laughs.

 

* * *

 

Beca waits outside the popular hangout, checking her phone every two minutes. Their date was supposed to be at 8:00 pm. It feels like nine years pass between 8:00 pm and 8:15 pm.

 

It feels like a lifetime passes between 8:15 pm and 9:00 pm when she finally gives up waiting for him.

 

* * *

 

“What’s wrong with me?” she asks Jesse while they pay half-attention to the song they’re playing in band mode. He came to her rescue after she called him, embarrassed and ashamed, to pick her up when Luke never showed up.

 

“You’re awesome, all right? Luke's just a dick. I don’t know why I even told you to go out with him.”

 

“Maybe because he’s the only guy who’s ever asked me out?” She’s really feeling like a loser tonight. USDA Prime Cut Loser.

 

“Okay, stop it,” Jesse says as he lowers his guitar. “Luke's not worth it. You’re way too good for him. Plus, I heard he has a vestigial tail.”

 

Beca laughs at his stupid joke and sees his attention shift to look past her over her shoulder, and then he’s moving. She turns to see Luke hesitating a few feet away looking what she can only describe as sheepish.

 

“Hey, get out of here, man,” Jesse says, getting as much in Luke's face as he dares. “You had your chance.”

 

“I need to talk to Beca.” He looks downright apologetic.

 

“Jess, it’s okay.”

 

Jesse hesitates but eventually backs away, pointing at Luke to let him know he’ll be watching him.

 

Beca racks her guitar on the game and steps off the platform. “Running a little late, are we?”

 

Luke sighs. “I’m sorry I stood you up. I really did want to go out with you. But you deserve an explanation.”

 

She crosses her arms. “That’d be nice.”

 

“Chloe…” he hesitates, “told me it wouldn’t be smart if I showed up for our date tonight.”

 

Beca blinks, surprised and confused. “Chloe?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

She shakes her head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

 

“It’s true.” He seems earnest which only confuses her more. “And it’s not just me. She’s been telling all the guys not to ask you out for awhile now.”

 

She’s so taken aback she doesn’t know if she’s mad or flattered or both but mostly she’s just, “What?!”

 

He seems immediately regretful. “You can’t tell her I told you!”

 

“Why do you care?”

 

“No boobs are worth getting beat up by a girl.” He hurries out of the arcade and Beca feels...she feels…

 

“Fine! But just so you know, my boobs are _fantastic!_ ” she shouts after him.

 

It’s only after the words are out of her mouth that she realizes half the arcade is staring at her.

 

* * *

 

As soon as she gets home she calls Chloe and paces her bedroom. “You do realize you’re not my mom, right?” She is _furious_ with Chloe for interfering in her personal life for God knows how long.

 

“You have so much to learn, kiddo,” is Chloe’s quiet, smooth reply.

 

She scoffs. “Kiddo? Oh, my God! If you were here, I would push you down the stairs.”

 

“Luke's a player.”

 

“So are you!” she argues back; it was common knowledge that Chloe was no stranger to romance. She liked boys. And girls. And everyone. And had probably kissed a quarter of her class by now, if not more. She didn’t like being tied down, though; as long as Beca’s known her, which is quite literally Beca’s entire life, Chloe has never had an actual partner.

 

“And that’s why I know he’s wrong for you,” Chloe answers simply. “You’re going to thank me one day.”

 

“Yeah, okay,” she says with sarcasm. “Today is not that day. It’s not your job to babysit my dating life, so you’re going to stop trying to control it.”

 

Chloe hums. “We’ll see about that.”

 

* * *

 

Student Council approves their kissing booth. Beca would like to think it’s thanks to her sweet presentation (hastily scribbled on index cards during History).

 

“Would _you_ be working the booth?” one of the male council members asked her before the decision was made.

 

The thought made her shudder, and then shudder again when he leered at her. “No! No, we’re just running it. But we already have some choice individuals on board to participate. Promise.”

 

“Would Chloe be working the kissing booth?” It’s Stacie who asks it, and Aubrey lights up next to her at the suggestion.

 

Jesse’s halfway through a guffaw of, “In your dreams!” when Beca cuts him off, realizing the promise of Chloe’s participation is the key to getting it all approved.

 

“Totally. Chloe will be there. Lots of A-list talent.” She grimaces at her own words.

 

Maybe she should talk to Chloe about it soon.


	2. Chapter 2

“Aubrey stopped me in the hall today,” Jesse says as he tests shades of red paint for the kissing booth on a piece of scrap wood in the woodshop classroom. “Said she’s coming to the party tonight and wanted to make sure I’d be there.” It’s obvious he’s about to burst with pride over it but trying to act cool.

 

Beca tucks the pencil she’s using to trace letters onto plywood that someone more skilled with a saw than she will cut. “I wish you the best of luck with that.” The alarm on her phone interrupted her intended continuation of ribbing him about the total lack of possibilities with Aubrey. “Shit, I have practice. Can you still give me a ride home later?”

 

Jesse’s regretful inhale makes her shoulders droop. “I can’t, I’m sorry. I said I’d take my parents to the airport.” He pauses and makes a face and then offers, “But Chloe could give you a ride.”

 

Normally, she’d be a little excited about that but instead, she’s reminded that she made a promise to Student Council - one that is quickly spreading through the school - that Chloe would be participating in their kissing booth.

 

“You’re going to have to ask her eventually,” he says, reading her mind. “If I ask her, there’s no way she’ll do it, just to spite me.”

 

Beca grabs her backpack and stalks off. “Yeah, yeah.”

 

* * *

 

When Beca meets up with Chloe in front of the school after practice where Jesse said she’d be waiting, she’s not surprised to find her entertaining the attention of two boys from the football team and one of the cheerleaders. She’s saying something about her party - inviting them, probably.

 

“Hey,” she says loud enough to interrupt.

 

Chloe turns at the sound wearing a half-smile. She turns back to her audience and explains she has to leave and they scurry off chatting excitedly.

 

“Hi,” Chloe says once she’s decided to actually give Beca her attention.

 

Beca tries to be unimpressed by Chloe’s tight-fitting navy blue uniform pants, but she can’t help but notice they’re definitely tighter than what is allowed by the dress code. “Jesse said you could give me a ride?”

 

“Yeah, totes!” Chloe says with a brighter smile.

 

“Where’s your car?”

 

Chloe tilts her head, gesturing behind her; they’re at the top of the parking lot reserved for motorcycles, and Beca sees Chloe’s bike parked and waiting.

 

“Yeah, dude, no that’s not going to happen.”

 

“What, are you scared?” Chloe teases. She starts walking and doesn’t look back to see if Beca’s following, because of course she’s following.

 

“No, I’m not scared! But I’m not getting on there like one of your - your,” _ew,_ “make out partners.”

 

Chloe stops and laughs to turn back. “I don’t make out with _all_ of them.”

 

Beca just crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow at her and it makes Chloe wither a little.

 

“Okay, so maybe I make out with most of them, but I’m just going to take you home, okay?”

 

Beca shakes her head; there’s something about getting on a motorcycle with Chloe Beale that is setting off all genres of alarms in her brain and she can’t figure out if there are more good or more bad bells ringing. She pulls her headphones out of her backpack and puts them in to make sure Chloe knows this conversation was over. “It’s so nice today; I think I’ll just go for a run.”

 

“It’s like five miles.”

 

“What?”

 

“It’s five -”

 

“Can’t hear you! See at the party, okay?” She starts walking before Chloe can say anything else.

 

“No you won’t; it’s going to be full of creeps so you better not be there.”

 

“Better get used to disappointment!” She starts running.

 

“I knew you could hear me!”

 

* * *

 

Beca knows she needs to convince Chloe to be part of the kissing booth lest she is forever exiled by the Barden student body. But that’s only one mountain to climb on what she’s discovered to be a bit of an Everest.

 

Because despite texting roughly half of said student body, no one at Barden wants to work at her kissing booth.

 

They only want to visit it so they can kiss Chloe Beale.

 

* * *

 

Chloe’s house party is nothing new for Beca; she’s been to them many times, though she’s always only passing through on her way to meet up with Jesse in his room for an all-nighter of Grand Theft Auto or Halo. The massive lawn is always full of people she knows to be in Chloe’s class, or even older. There’s a fire pit that gets going and people sit around it and kiss and roast marshmallows. Everyone always has red Solo cups and Beca remembers swiping a couple for Jesse and her to drink Kool-Aid out of last year.

 

This year she shows up with full intent to participate in the party, though she’s not quite sure what that means.

 

She’s never been to a house party as a partygoer.

 

She spots Jesse when she arrives and hustles down the staircase to the lower level to fill him in on their dilemma. “No one wants to work the kissing booth. We’re going to have to up our recruiting game if we’re going to make any money.”

 

Jesse is only half-listening and Beca doesn’t need to ask why because the answer is right in front of them when they turn the corner toward the kitchen where Stacie, Flo, and Aubrey are dancing with each other near one of what is undoubtedly many beer kegs. “See, I told you she was coming!” He’s grinning so wide it makes her elbow him but he waves at the girls anyway.

 

To Beca’s surprise, they wave back, but then -

 

“Becky! Come here!” Aubrey says and they both realize they’re waving at Beca, not Jesse.

 

“The OMGs are talking to me twice in a week? What is happening?” She stares at them, stunned and confused and a little intrigued, and decides to see what’s up.

 

“Tell Aubrey I’m awesome!”

 

“Sure, dude,” she says with a laugh. She’s definitely not telling Aubrey he’s awesome, because Aubrey is a bitch. A bitch that, for some reason, she wants to go talk to.

 

“Hey, what’s up?” she says and is taken aback by their enthusiastic greetings.

 

Stacie hands her a tiny plastic cup. “You’ll love this; it tastes like green.”

 

It might be Beca’s first official high school party, but she knows a thing or two about alcohol. Namely, how after the one time she and Jesse decided to try a little bit of everything from her dad’s liquor cabinet, how far she’s actually capable of vomiting.

 

“Oh, no thanks, I don’t really drink.”

 

“There’s barely any vodka in it,” Aubrey says in an oddly friendly way. “Just toss it back.”

 

She’s not quite sure why she does it and her brain is yelling at her for giving into peer pressure so easily because Beca Mitchell doesn’t need validation from these girls, but for some reason, she does toss it back and shudders. “It does taste like green. Gross.”

 

They all laugh but Stacie interrupts to ask, “Have you asked her yet?”

 

“Asked who?” Her eyes are burning and there was definitely plenty of vodka in that.

 

“Chloe, duh!” Stacie says, pointing past Beca toward the balcony where Chloe’s locked in a heated lip-lock with someone she doesn’t recognize. “About the booth.”

 

She has to look away. “She looks busy; I’ll ask her later.”

 

“Oh, she’s funny,” Flo says with a laugh as she pokes Beca’s stomach like she’s a teddy bear or something. “Go ask her.”

 

“No, I -”

 

“Go!”

 

Again, Beca’s not sure why she’s going; she actually hates these girls but some gross teen movie part of her brain has her wanting to be accepted and liked by them so she finds herself standing awkwardly behind Chloe and her make out partner and with the encouragement of her “friends,” reaches up to tap Chloe’s shoulder.

 

She hopes she doesn’t look too taken aback by the way Chloe’s lipstick has a tiny smear in the corner and how blue her eyes look and how soft her hair must feel and how pretty her sparkly little black dress and stilettos are when she turns to see who’s interrupted them.

 

“I thought I told you I didn't want you here?” Chloe says when she sees her. “And no, I don’t know where Jesse is.” She’s a little breathless and Beca hopes the effect that has on her doesn’t show either. She goes right back to kissing her date (if you could even call him that; he’s probably one of many to cross her path tonight), so Beca, now annoyed and definitely _not_ jealous, taps her shoulder again. “What?” Chloe asks, and this time she sounds irritated.

 

“Um…” Every ounce of bravery she had a second ago evaporates. “The OMG Girls want to know if you’ll do our kissing booth.”

 

“Pass,” Chloe says without even a second’s thought.

 

It’s not until much, much later that she wonders what Chloe would have said if she’d been honest and said it was she who wanted to know and not the OMGs.

 

“Fine, you win. Do you want me to wash your motorcycle? Polish your -”

 

She doesn’t even see it coming until she’s stumbling backward thanks to the hand that’s shoved her, belonging to the guy Chloe’s been kissing.

 

“Whoa, hey!” Chloe jerks the guy away from Beca and steps between them. “You need to leave. Right now.”

 

The guy laughs. “Because of this scrub? No way.”

 

“She’s important to my family and that makes her important to me.”

 

“Seriously?”

 

“Leave. Before I call the cops.”

 

He leaves with a huff and narrowly misses shoulder-checking Beca as he does so, and only because Chloe pulled Beca out of the way in time. As soon as she realizes Chloe’s hands are on her bare shoulders, they’re gone. “Are you okay, Becs?”

 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Um, I’m...sorry I ruined your, uh...kissing.”

 

Chloe scoffs and busies herself with fixing her hair. “It’s fine. He tasted like Cool Ranch Doritos anyway.”

 

“Ew. Anyway…” She wants to tell Chloe about her smudged lipstick but Chloe’s smiling at her in a way that feels like an odd mix of amusement and pride. Maybe she can get her this time now that she’s not so distracted. “So...kissing booth?”

 

“That’s a no for me. Sorry, kiddo.”

 

Crash and burn. “Awesome. Cool, thanks.” She turns in defeat but the OMG Girls are waiting a few feet away and start squealing at her return.

 

“That was so savage!” Stacie says with a laugh. “That guy totally left.”

 

“Here,” Aubrey says as she hands Beca another tiny plastic cup. “You’ll love this. Tastes like pink.”

 

Beca’s not sure why (it’s the vodka from the last drink) she does it, but she takes it; she kind of feels like she needs it after that.

 

“So, Chloe’s doing the booth?” Stacie asks.

 

Beca’s really, really not sure why she does it.

 

“Between us girls,” she says as she tilts her head back to swallow the pink drink, “Chloe Beale basically does whatever I tell her.”

 

Things get blurry after that. She dances, usually with Jesse, sometimes alone or with the OMG Girls or with whoever asks her to. Someone challenges her to a game of Mortal Kombat and she discovers she’s even better at it drunk than she is sober and dominates challenger after challenger. Someone else challenges her just to drink. There was counting involved while she drank. She couldn’t hear what numbers, but there were a lot of them.

 

She learned she had a great view of the party outside if she climbed onto the pool table, and that if she took off her dress, she wouldn’t be so damn hot.

 

The table under her feet feels like it’s tipping and she feels herself falling and suddenly she’s moving, but her feet aren’t. She’s being carried but doesn’t know how or by whom but they smell good.

 

* * *

 

When she wakes up, it feels like there’s a demolition derby going on in her brain. The room is too bright and her mouth is dry and gross and...and it’s not her room.

 

She looks around trying to figure out where she is and reality snaps quickly into focus. There’s a field hockey stick in one corner and a lacrosse stick with a helmet hanging from it in another, and between them is a wall full of trophies interspersed with dozens of framed and free-standing photos of Chloe.

 

_Shit!_

 

She looks down at herself in Chloe’s bed and realizes she’s wearing Chloe’s T-shirt. She knows it’s Chloe’s because it’s blue and yellow just like Beca’s soccer jersey, but this one has been cut into a crop top (because, of course, Chloe would make it a crop top) and says BARDEN LACROSSE on it in big white letters over her boobs.

 

Her boobs.

 

She grabs them, fear coursing through her, but her bra is still on. She has to check under the covers, too and breathes a sigh of relief that her underwear are still on, too. She’s in Chloe’s bed, and while all signs point to having slept with her, it seems probable that she didn’t _sleep_ with her. She might maybe, definitely have a crush on her, but something like that isn’t something she was okay with happening when she was blackout drunk.

 

_Wow, her bed smells amazing._

 

The night feels like a blur. Every time she tries to remember something, it’s only there in fragments. She remembers pink drinks and green drinks and so very many drinks, and dancing, and video games, but not much else, though she has a distinct feeling that she made a total fool of herself.

 

She lets the covers fall back over her legs and holds her throbbing head in her hands. It’s not two seconds later that she sees movement to her right. She looks up to see Chloe, who seems to be freshly showered and wearing nothing more than a towel around her middle, wet hair now a deep, dark red as it hangs down her back while she rummages through a dresser a few feet away.

 

_Sweet Jesus._

 

She must have made a sound because Chloe turns as soon as the thought passes through her mind. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. I was just grabbing some clothes.”

 

“It’s okay.” Beca’s voice seems to skip an octave and she clears her throat. “Um, how...bad was I?”

 

Chloe chuckles and turns to lean back against the dresser (still only wearing a towel). “Well, let’s just say you were going to give everyone a little peep show and wanted to go skinny dipping.”

 

Beca drops her head back into her hands. “Oh, God.”

 

“I might have carried you up here before too much came off.”

 

She groans again.

 

“And you threw up on your dress.”

 

She feels humiliated. “Chlo, I am so, so sorry. I never drink like that. I never drink at _all_.”

 

Chloe shrugs and for some reason _oh, my God she’s so close and smells so good_ , she walks over to the bed to lean against one of the columns of her four-poster bed. “It’s okay. But this is the kind of stuff I’m talking about when I say you’re not ready or that you don’t know what it’s like.”

 

“I’m so embarrassed. Did I snore?”

 

Chloe laughs again. “Becs, I slept in the guest room.”

 

Beca feels her face flushing, now embarrassed for assuming Chloe would want to share a bed with her, and suddenly she needs to get _out_ of said bed. So she does, scrambling out from the covers only to realize once she’s standing that she’s standing in front of Chloe Beale in her underwear and a tee that is too short to hide them.

 

She tugs at it and tries to play it cool. “I’m assuming since I’m wearing this, you saw me pretty much naked?”

 

“Yep.”

 

She groans an, “Oh, my God,” and runs her hands through her tangled hair and then realizes the motion has lifted up the shirt to show too much and, “Oh, my God! Okay!” She spins for cover and ends up hiding her lower half behind one of the curtains in front of a floor-to-ceiling window. Then she sees them, her salvation - a pair of shorts (Chloe’s, obviously), on the floor near the bed. “Shorts, please?”

 

And for some God forsaken reason, Chloe giggles and shakes her head.

 

“Chlo.”

 

She just smiles.

 

“Really? Fine,” Beca clings to the curtain and hopes it can reach while she makes a move for the shorts.

 

“Okay, okay, fine.”

 

She hears Chloe say it but is so focused on being quick like a rabbit that she doesn’t see Chloe stooping to pick them up and runs right into her, pretty much tackling her with a shoulder to Chloe’s stomach.

 

The curtain rips from the window to follow her as she and Chloe hit the ground with matching shouts of surprise.

 

It’s chaos and confusion and when she tries to roll off, Chloe tries to, too, and the curtain gets tangled and it wraps them up like a burrito.

 

“Stop pulling!” Beca shrieks; she’s literally half naked and somehow Chloe, in a towel, is on top of her.

 

“I’m not pulling anything!”

 

She struggles but Chloe’s pinned on top of her. “My arm’s caught on the curtain, let me just reach down and -”

 

There’s a gasp. And then Beca gasps.

 

_Oh, my God! That’s her boob!_

 

There’s more chaos as Chloe rolls them back the way they came until the curtain unfurls so Beca can scramble to her feet, grab the shorts, and yank them on.

 

“I’m sorry!” She doesn’t realize Chloe’s laughing until she’s fully clothed and heading for the door.

 

“Beca. Aren’t you forgetting something?”

 

She turns and tries to not look as horrified as she feels while Chloe tightens her towel around her chest. “Hmm?”

 

“My T-shirt.”

 

“Oh, right, yeah.” She starts to lift it over her head, too hungover and panicky to realize that she’d be back to being half-naked if she took it off.

 

“Beca!”

 

She freezes with it half over her head and is acutely aware that she’s flashing Chloe.

 

“Stop, I’m kidding,” Chloe laughs. “Keep it.”

 

“So, I should -”

 

“Get out, dork.”

 

She tugs it back down and dives for the door. She doesn’t bother to say goodbye.

 

* * *

 

By the time she makes it to Jesse’s room - it takes several minutes thanks to the size of their house - the adrenaline of rolling around mostly naked with Chloe and accidentally touching her has passed. She drags herself in feeling half-dead; Jesse’s awake and at his computer.

 

“Never let me drink again,” she says before falling face-first into his bed.

 

“Gotcha covered, boo,” he says and she turns over to see him holding up a shopping bag as he rolls over on his desk chair. “Made you a hangover kit. Granola, Gatorade, Rolaids…” She sits up to take it from him. “...and a major dose of high school shame.”

 

She manages to laugh. “Thank you.”

 

“Oh yeah, and good work last night.”

 

She sighs, resigned to the fact that her stupidity knows no bounds. “What did I do?”

 

“Nothing major. Just told everyone that Chloe _and_ the OMGs are doing the kissing booth.”

 

“Come on, man!” she says as she collapses back onto Jesse’s bed. She hears him roll back to his desk and debates leaning over and puking on the floor. Instead, she can’t stop thinking about Chloe and their accidental groping and what Chloe had said about taking her up to her room before she did any more damage. And how Chloe got in trouble on the first day when Bumper groped her. And how Chloe told everyone at school not to ask her out on a date. And how Chloe says she thinks of her like a little sister, but...as crazy as it was to think it...maybe she had a different reason for always protecting Beca.

 

* * *

 

School on Monday isn’t as bad as she thought it would be; she does overhear herself as a topic of conversation now and then as she walks the halls, but apparently the recently arrived exchange student who calls herself Fat Amy had done something ridiculous enough to overshadow her own drunken shenanigans. Something about a donkey in a police car…? She’d ask about it later.

 

She had more important things to deal with first, namely, her public promise to get the OMG Girls to participate in the kissing booth.

 

“Remember the plan?” Jesse asks as they shuffle through the lunch line together. “Get them to join and so will everyone else. Because teenagers are lemmings.”

 

Beca grabs a slice of pizza and plops it on her tray. “We’re teenagers, Jess.”

 

“And we, too, are lemmings.” He gestures at the line of students in front of them as though making his point.

 

“You’re so weird. Yeah, I remember the plan.”

 

“Good, go get ‘em.”

 

Beca takes a breath and her tray and walks down the row between the lunch tables, slowing as she approaches and then passes the OMGs’ table, hoping that they’ll -

 

“Becky!” Aubrey calls just before she’s too far away for it to be awkward.

 

 _Bingo._ She turns and tries to play it cool. “Um, it’s Beca, actually…”

 

None of them acknowledge her correction. “Why are you standing and talking instead of sitting and talking?” Aubrey snaps. She’s the fakest person Beca’s ever met because she’s barking orders with a smile like Beca’s her bestie.

 

She glances at Stacie who nods for her to sit down. “Oh, yeah, okay.” She makes nervous eye contact with Jesse sitting a few tables away as she takes a seat and sees him mouth his request. “Jesse wants to know if you like him.”

 

“Chloe’s brother?” Aubrey asks, and Beca nods. Aubrey looks over her shoulder to where he’s sitting and Beca watches him attempt to play it cool and nod in her direction, giving her a little tilt of his milk carton in acknowledgment. “Yeah, he’s cute. Could dress better, though.”

 

The girls laugh at her apparent joke and Beca tries to join in but it ends abruptly. “More importantly,” Stacie interrupts, “everything’s set for the kissing booth, right?”

 

At least they’re playing right into her plan. She lowers her voice and leans in. “Okay, so here’s what I just heard.” The other girls lean in, too, intrigued. “Chloe likes one of you.” They all gasp. “Rumor has it that if the person she likes is working at the kissing booth, then she’ll be there, too.”

 

This time they all squeal and grab each other’s hands across the table and in front of Beca.

 

“Wait, didn’t we tell you?” Aubrey says after a moment.

 

“Tell me what?”

 

Stacie takes her hand. “Now that we’re besties, we would totally do the kissing booth. Just for you.”

 

 _Check and mate._ “Really?” she says with a swoon.

 

“Duh. You’re one of us now.”

 

“Wow, thank you, guys!”

 

* * *

 

Barden’s annual fundraiser is impressive. Everyone went all-out for their booths and it feels like a real carnival (it might help a little that the local amusement park let them set up in one of their empty midways): Chess Club with their strongman competition, Swim Team and their dunk tank, Film Club’s ring toss and Drama Club’s photo opportunity complete with props and costumes, and of course, the Gamers Club’s kissing booth.

 

Their booth is decked out to the nines, and they have the OMG Girls and most of the popular kids, but Chloe still hasn’t agreed to participate and, selfishly, Beca thinks about how her reputation is on the line. She spots her on the other side of the midway pitching a softball at a target to successfully dunk one of their classmates and crosses the walkway to get her attention.

 

“Hey, Beca,” Chloe says with a smile once she’s turned and sees her. “Your booth looks awesome.”

 

“Hey, yeah, about that…” She tries to smile in the most polite, groveling way possible. “I’m desperate. Please?”

 

Chloe seems to hesitate for a second, and in that second, Beca’s hopes soar. But then they crash back to Earth with the shake of Chloe’s head. “I’m sorry, Becs. But my answer is still no.”

 

For some reason, Chloe’s rejection his extra hard; maybe because this time, Beca was asking her earnestly, not as a joke or while being egged on by drunk girls at a party. It makes her eyes sting. “Yeah, no, that’s cool,” she says as she starts walking backward. “I get it. Don’t worry about it.”

 

“Beca -”

 

She turns and picks up her pace until she’s on her booth and through its back curtain where their kissees are awaiting the kickoff.

 

She hopes everyone doesn’t hate her by the end of the night.

 

* * *

 

“Ladies, gentlemen, and everyone step right up!” Jesse calls from his post in front of the booth. His personality lends itself well to being a ringmaster; Beca’s far better suited to working the cash box. “Prepare to have your socks knocked off by the intensity of a kiss from one of our beautiful people! A ticket - and a mint, which I definitely encourage you all to use - is $5. All sales are final! We have a twist to our booth - the people you’ll be kissing are blindfolded, so don’t be afraid to go for it. First up, we have Luke Davies!”

 

Jesse had had strong reservations about allowing him to participate after what happened at the beginning of the year but after his apology and then confession about why he stood her up for their date, he’d been cool and respectful. Jesse finally relented and agreed to let him participate but grumbled that it was because he was popular and not because he was okay with how he’d treated Beca.

 

“And for those interested in something a little more feminine, on the other side, we have the breathtakingly hot Aubrey Posen!”

 

Beca masks her natural reaction to gag by hooting and clapping to try to help Jesse get the crowd excited.

 

People do step right up. They realize quickly they have a cash cow on their hands as word spreads about their kissing booth. Guys (and a dozen or so girls who Beca clocks and remembers for later) flock to get in line to kiss Aubrey. It’s fun to watch people kiss her and Luke; some are hesitant and only deliver a peck to their lips. Others go all in and Beca’s pretty sure there’s tongue involved more than once despite the official rules declaring it a tongue-free zone.

 

The line doubles when Beca summons Stacie in for Aubrey. The new line for Bumper becomes embarrassingly small but somehow he still earns $100 for them thanks to that loud exchange student slapping down a crisp Benjamin Franklin and claiming him for 20 really, really gross minutes.

 

Beca feels like she needs to bleach her eyes by the time they finally break for air and she doesn’t waste any time kicking Bumper off the stage to pull up one of the football players to replace him. Beca notices one of the boys from the student council - Kolio if Beca remembers correctly - doing an overly obvious shuffling from the line to kiss Stacie to the line to kiss the new football player. She seems to be the only person who notices, and he notices her notice him and she sees him start to panic and step back to the other line, but she smiles at him and he stops.

 

She gets it.

 

“We are _killing_ it!” Jesse says, interrupting her knowing moment with her classmate while he entertains himself counting the cash in their box after making change for someone. “But we have one problem.”

 

Beca’s tried to ignore it all night, but she’s heard the crowd.

 

“They’re asking for Chloe. But I have an idea.”

 

* * *

 

Beca leads Jesse onto the stage in his blindfold and does what she’s tried to avoid all night: address the crowd. “Okay, folks! The moment you’ve been waiting for has arrived: as promised, the next kisser is a Beale!”

 

There’s a moment of excitement followed by mass confusion and half the line - made up mostly of men - immediately vacates the area. The OMG Girls are next in line and the three of them stare at Beca and then at Jesse in confusion.

 

“That’s not Chloe Beale,” Stacie says with a frown.

 

Beca tsks and tries to sell it. “It is _Jesse_ Beale.”

 

More people leave and groan and Beca feels terrible because she knows Jesse can hear the disappointment.

 

“The only reason I ever talked to that dork was to make sure his sister would be here tonight. Come on, let’s go.”

 

Beca watches Stacie and Flo leave and then notices Aubrey hesitating, still holding her ticket while her friends leave and then call for her when they notice she’s not with them.

 

Only she keeps her eyes forward and then hands her ticket to Beca. “I guess I’m next,” she says and strides up into the booth to face Jesse, his head hanging in embarrassment.

 

If Beca could feel any other emotion than shock she’d have said something, but instead she watches dumbfounded as Aubrey lifts his chin and pulls him in for a kiss.

 

And not just a little peck.

 

She wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him in and Beca watches his arms flail in surprise. After a few seconds (they feel like an eternity to Beca), Aubrey releases him and Jesse reaches for his blindfold to pull it off.

 

“Whoa.”

 

Beca’s pretty sure he’s smiling so big his face might crack. She fully expects Aubrey to make a rude comment or slap him, but instead, she smiles back and pulls him into another kiss.

 

“Great; I guess that’s going to be a thing now,” she says to herself before finally tearing her eyes away. “Okay!” she says to the crowd, still whistling at Jesse and Aubrey’s steamy kiss. “In light of these developments, we’re going to take a 10-minute break. Come back soon and find out who our next kissers are!”

 

* * *

 

“So...we’re going to go hang out,” Jesse says a little shyly when Beca finds him after she’s secured the cash box. Aubrey’s next to him holding his hand and Beca really can’t believe any of it.

 

She checks her phone. “We still have another hour left.” But Jesse gives her a look so direct and obvious she immediately follows it with, “But that’s fine, I can handle it. You two go, have fun. Make good choices.”

 

_Rule Number 18: Always be happy for your bestie’s successes._

 

Beca’s still congratulating herself on sticking to Rule 18 when a shriek of disgust in a mix of Spanish and English breaks the silence. Flo shows up a second later, marching through the curtain with her blindfold pushed up onto her forehead; she might have stormed off, angry that she wasn’t going to get to make out with Chloe as a customer, but she’d returned to work another shift at the booth with the hope that maybe Chloe would decide to pay a visit as a customer.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“I will kiss almost anyone, but I’m not kissing him! ¡Nunca!”

 

“Who?” Beca moves to see who Florencia Fuentes could possibly refuse to kiss but Stacie cuts her off.

 

“Her ex,” Stacie explains as she pulls Flo into a hug and pouts her lips. “I’d help her out, but I can’t kiss him either after what he did to Flo.” She slips the blindfold off Flo’s head with care to not mess up her hair and holds it out to Beca. “You don’t know her ex at all though, right?”

 

Beca tries to remember all the people Flo might have dated but it’s a big list, mostly because Flo’s reputation was that of a serial monogamist. “Um, no -”

 

“Great! Then it’s settled!”

 

Beca’s not sure what’s even happening until she’s been blindfolded and thrust onto the stage of her own kissing booth to kiss Flo’s ex when she’s never kissed anyone in her life.

 

Stacie doesn’t give her the same courtesy she did and Beca has to make her way blindly to her post; she’d really rather run off but she knows that she’s in deep with the OMGs after the debacle with Chloe not showing up to the booth so she quickly resigns herself to her fate.

 

“A little help would be nice,” she says as she walks not unlike a zombie, hearing the crowd laugh, and the realization that she has an audience makes her trip.

 

Someone catches her though and there’s a murmuring of surprise around her and she figures it’s thanks to Flo’s ex being heroic or some crap.

 

“Oh, sorry!” she says, laughing through her embarrassment as she lets Flo’s ex-boyfriend guide her backward until she’s at her assigned post. “Sorry, again. Um…” she feels like she’s rambling and her palms are sweating; she has to kiss someone for the first time and she has an audience and she can’t even see who it is. “You were probably expecting Flo. It’s okay if you want a refund, I know we said all sales are final but I’m-I’m happy to change our policy for you. I’ve-I’ve, um, I’ve never kissed anyone before. It’s not like I haven’t wanted to, but it’s always been awkward and weird and -”

 

She shuts up because she’s being kissed.

 

She thinks she hears a reaction from the crowd - maybe a gasp or a whistle - but it’s really hard to tell over the sound of the blood rushing in her ears and all she can really think about is the fact that someone is kissing her right this very second.

 

And it feels _so_ good with their hands on her waist that she can’t help but reach out instinctively to at least touch this guy but her hands find hair way earlier than expected and she realizes it’s because it’s long and she can’t help but curl her fingers into it and feel the way it bounces and it smells so familiar and -

 

_Wait._

 

She pulls back and lifts her blindfold already knowing what she’ll see but is still somehow surprised that the first thing she sees are Chloe’s lips curved into a hesitant little smile that she can’t seem to stop staring at.

 

Because Chloe Beale just kissed her.

 

She lets the blindfold slip from her fingers just in time for Chloe to wrap her arms around her waist and tug her close to kiss her again and this time Beca hears the crowd’s reaction loud and clear - a chorus of hoots, hollers, and whistles that serve as the soundtrack to the way Chloe’s kissing her as though she’s waited her entire life to kiss her.

 

Beca wonders if maybe she _had_ been waiting her entire life.

 

Beca knows she doesn’t know what she’s doing; she feels clumsy and uncoordinated but every time she thinks she’s doing something wrong, Chloe just kisses her harder or, _God_ , lets out this little whimper of a sound that makes Beca’s knees weak.

 

They finally part and Beca rests her forehead against Chloe’s; they’re both breathing quickly and they exchange smiles. Beca cannot believe that just happened and Chloe seems a little surprised, too. Soon, though, Beca realizes they’re in complete silence, which feels weird given the outburst a minute ago, so she turns her gaze toward the crowd to see them all staring, stunned, until they burst into applause.

 

Suddenly reality rushes back.

 

“Oh, my God, they all just saw that, didn’t they?!”

 

Chloe laughs and drops her hands from where they’d been at her waist. “Sure did.”

 

She hides her face in her hands and spins away from the cheering audience. “Kill me now. Please.”

 

“Relax, Becs. It was just a kiss.”

 

_JUST a kiss?_

 

“Right. Yeah.”

 

Chloe clears her throat and fluffs her hair a little. “I’ll see you later, okay? Keep up the good work.” She winks and as quickly as she swooped in to sweep Beca off her feet, she was gone.

 

_Good work? Okay. Nice._

 

And then it hit her.

 

What was she going to tell Jesse?!

 

* * *

 

She decides prompt honesty regarding her utter demolition of Rule Number Nine is the best policy and she begs someone from her club - Jessica or Ashley, she can never remember her name - to run the booth while she hurries to find Jesse somewhere in the carnival on his very unexpected date with Aubrey Posen.

 

She finally spots them at the ring toss, Aubrey throwing and Jesse cheering her on, and she flags him down.

 

It takes him a few seconds but he notices and excuses himself to let her play. He’s glowing when he makes his way over to her. “Is everything okay?”

 

Suddenly, prompt honesty sounds like a terrible idea. “Um, yeah. The booth is hoppin’ right now.”

 

“Hoppin’?” he repeats with a questioning look; she knew that word, chosen in her moment of blind panic, gave her way in an instant that something was wrong.

 

She distracts him with, “Yeah! It turns out people _really_ like to kiss!” Not that she would have known, having no first-hand experience until 10 minutes ago.

 

“No way!” Jesse says with a laugh.

 

“Yeah! And, funny story: I wound up kissing your sister!”

 

Jesse’s face seems to freeze and she waits for the proverbial shoe to drop.

 

“What?” he finally says with a long blink.

 

“C’mon, Jess. It’s seriously no big deal.” Correction: it is a very big deal and she knows it.

 

“What?” he repeats.

 

It’s like she can feel it, their lifelong friendship suddenly slipping through her fingers like a rope so quickly it’s burning her palms. “It’s for charity, right?”

 

“Yeah.” He blinks again and she can see him struggling. “I guess so.” He takes another breath and then, “Just don’t end up bumping uglies with her, or I’ll literally never talk to you again. Rule Number Nine, right?”

 

She laughs, not because it’s particularly funny, but because that’s how her body’s chosen to react to the moment. “Yeah, of course!” she agrees, but something about the way Chloe kissed her and looked at her has Beca questioning Rule Number Nine a lot right this second. “Seriously, Jesse. As if. Me and Chloe? Pfft.”


	3. Chapter 3

It’s late when the carnival ends. Beca sent Jesse on his way as soon as it closed with the promise she would handle the tear-down so he could enjoy the rest of his night with Aubrey because that’s what friends do. Mostly, it was out of guilt. Partly, it was so she wouldn’t have to talk to him. She needed to think about what happened with Chloe and how to handle Jesse’s reaction to it.

 

She’s almost ready to dig into it as she folds the fabric banner they’d painted to hang on their ticket-taking stand when she sees Chloe across the midway, smiling and laughing with some guy, oblivious to Beca.

 

She’s quick with the rest of her tear-down, doing little more than stuffing things in the box that someone from school is going to pick up in a few minutes and then takes off toward home. She walks; Jesse had driven her but it was safe to say he had someone else to drive home tonight.  For a brief moment, she considers calling her dad, especially when she hears the first crack of thunder, but she decides she deserves to walk home in a thunderstorm.

 

Her plan is to sulk and wallow in self-pity about hurting Jesse but instead, all she can think about is Chloe and that kiss and if she meant anything to Chloe or if it really was “just” a kiss.

 

The second clap of thunder rolls longer than she thinks it should and she’s reconsidering her option to call her dad for a ride when she realizes the extended thunder is the rumble of Chloe’s motorcycle idling next to her.

 

“Need a ride?” Chloe holds out her spare helmet and waits.

 

Beca just looks at her; she’s not sure what to think about Chloe anymore after the way she kissed her and then downplayed it like it was nothing.

 

‘C’mon, Becs. You know I’ll get grounded if I leave you out here.”

 

_Right._

 

* * *

 

She hugs Chloe from her spot behind her on the motorcycle; she knows she’s squeezing her too tightly but the rain is coming down in sheets and she might be a little bit nervous. She wants to savor the moment, what it’s like to be close to Chloe like this, both of them soaked through to the skin, but all she can think about is the promise she’d made to Jesse when they were kids.

 

She’s still thinking about it when the rear tire of the bike skids and she feels Chloe slow down.

 

“I’m going to pull over,” she yells over her shoulder. “I can’t see in this rain!”

 

But as much as she keeps thinking about her promise, she keeps thinking about Chloe and if Chloe still wants to kiss her.

 

She pulls into a parking area and Beca steps off the motorcycle while Chloe parks it and kills the engine. She’s not sure what exactly the plan is, but when Chloe takes her hand and squeals a, “Follow me!” and starts running down a grassy hill, she has no choice but to trust her.

 

They end up in a gazebo, the one bit of shelter that must exist in what Beca realizes is a park. They’re both panting from the sprint down the hill and Beca watches Chloe ring the rainwater out of her hair like she’d just stepped out of the shower, and all she can think about now is how much _she_ still wants to kiss Chloe.

 

“We can just wait it out,” Chloe says as she peers out into the darkness.

 

Beca’s not sure how she does it.

 

She puts one foot in front of the other and reaches for Chloe’s face to pull her down and kiss her again.

 

She hears Chloe’s reaction, a bit of a startled squeak, and Chloe pulls back and pushes her away to hold her at arm’s length.

 

Beca stares up at her; she doesn’t regret it, not for a second, even if Chloe tells her right now that she only kissed her at the booth to save her from kissing some creep and that it’s too weird to kiss her.

 

But then Chloe’s arms wrap around her neck and pull her in and Beca stops thinking of all the possible what-ifs because nothing matters except the fact that Chloe is kissing her again.

 

She wraps her arms around Chloe’s waist and it all feels different this time. She’s not nervous or scared or worried about her best friend’s reaction. It feels like Chloe’s never going to stop kissing her and Beca is perfectly fine with that possibility.

 

There’s only one tiny thing that invades her moment and she forces herself out of the kiss. She looks at Chloe, who looks as disheveled as Beca feels.

 

It takes every ounce of willpower she has, but she says, “I can’t just be another hookup.” She likes Chloe too much. She wants more than that or nothing at all.

 

Chloe looks taken aback. “Is that really what you think of me?”

 

Beca hesitates. “It’s...it’s what everyone thinks of you, Chlo.”

 

She sees the words land with Chloe and wishes on every star in the universe she could take them back, but she can’t.

 

They’re also the truth.

 

She sees tears start to well well in Chloe’s eyes just before she pushes past Beca so she can’t see her, and Beca hates herself for it.

 

“Do you want to know the truth?” Chloe says in a quiet voice behind her.

 

Beca turns and has to force herself to not apologize.

 

However, Chloe doesn’t look mad or that she’s expecting an apology. “You’re the only person who doesn’t fall over themselves for me and it’s driving me _crazy_.” Chloe steps close again and lets her hands rest on Beca’s shoulders. Her thumbs trace the lines of Beca’s neck and she has to struggle not to shiver from the touch and the way Chloe’s looking at her. “I like that about you. You’re this...this hot little badass who isn’t afraid to say what she thinks and call me on my crap.”

 

She finally gives in and shivers and it makes Chloe smile. “Here I thought I was just your little brother’s annoying friend.”

 

“Well, yeah, you’re that, too,” Chloe says with a chuckle. “But I don’t know what this means. I like being with you. It feels right.”

 

Beca’s longed to hear those words for so long that she nearly jumps into Chloe’s arms. She manages to refrain, only slightly, as she leaps forward to kiss Chloe again because that’s all there is to do now.

 

Chloe likes being with her.

 

They kiss and they kiss until she feels herself being guided down to kneel on the floor, and then they kiss until she’s starting to have a lot of internal conversations with herself about what she is or isn’t ready for because Chloe’s hands are starting to wander and they feel _so_ good everywhere they go, but today was only her first kiss so she’s probably not ready and -

 

“Hey, break it up, you two!”

 

She jerks back at the sound of something loud banging against their gazebo and a flashlight in their faces. She can’t see who it is, just a dark outline of a figure whose voice continues on with, “Is that you, Chloe?”

 

Beca looks up sharply at her.

 

“I thought I told you to stop bringing girls here.”

 

Beca’s not sure if she sees red or green; all she knows is that she’s disgusted and she leaps to her feet. “What?! You brought me to your hookup spot?! I specifically said I will not be another one of your hookups!”

 

“Becs, that’s not -”

 

She starts to leave and then realizes she again has no ride home, so she spins on a dime and points. “I’m still pissed, but you’re still taking me home.”

 

The rain lets up along the way and this ride is decidedly different than the first half of it. She’s off the bike as soon as Chloe pulls up at the foot of Beca’s driveway and she all but throws her helmet into Chloe’s stomach when she hands it to her. “Thanks for the ride,” she bites. She realized on the ride home that Chloe probably didn’t take her to a hookup spot to hook up with her, that it was simply a spot of shelter that Chloe could get to quickly, but she wasn’t going to admit to her irrationality.

 

Chloe doesn’t seem too fazed by the helmet to the gut. “I meant what I said, Beca.”

 

“Good for you.” She doesn’t wait for a reply but gets one anyway.

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow?”

 

It makes her smile.

 

_Dammit._

 

* * *

 

Her father is waiting by the front window when she walks in. “Hey.”

 

“Hey, Dad,” she says, starting to shiver again thanks to every inch of her being soaked with rain.

 

“Why didn’t Jesse drive you home?”

 

She hesitates, annoyed that he was spying on her getting home, but doesn’t have the energy to debate it. “He got busy.”

 

“That’s the only reason you’re on the back of Chloe Beale’s motorcycle, right?”

 

It’s weird that even her dad seems to know of Chloe’s escapades and she’d really rather not think about that right now. “Yeah, totally. She offered to give me a lift when Jesse had to run. I’m freezing, so, good night.”

 

* * *

 

After a hot shower that she felt all the way to her bones, she flopped into bed and stared at the ceiling thinking about Chloe, and Chloe’s hands, and Chloe’s voice, and Chloe’s lips, and Chloe’s tongue, and what Chloe said, and -

 

Her phone dinging interrupts her thoughts. She feels around her bed until she finds it and opens the text from Jesse.

 

_“You get home ok?”_

 

She sighs; Jesse probably has no idea Chloe took her home, and _definitely_ doesn’t know that she and Chloe made out in a gazebo for half an hour before getting caught, and she thinks about Rule Number Six: _If you can’t tell your best friend about something you’re doing, you probably shouldn’t be doing it._

 

* * *

 

The thing about living in southern California is that it sometimes feels like an endless summer. Half the school was at Venice Beach for what was either another “last party of the summer” or “first party of the summer,” depending on who you asked.

 

Beca went with Jesse, who also brought Aubrey, which was weird at first but Beca was realizing that Aubrey wasn’t the person she’d imagined her to be. Sure, she still had a stick up her ass, but she was also caring and could be nice, at least when she wanted to be.

 

And she was fun, which was quite the revelation to Beca as the two of them jockeyed for next-up positioning at the top of a ridiculous soapy water slide someone had set up to run several yards down the hill of a sand dune. This water slide, however, was really the kickoff step to what was about to be an epic game of Flip Cup set up at the end of the slide.

 

Chloe is there, too because there was never a social event that she missed, and Beca watches her playing beach volleyball at the bottom of the hill and takes a moment to appreciate how nice Chloe looks in a bikini, especially once she stands up after diving to make a save and starts brushing the sand off her body.

 

Beca really, really appreciates it.

 

Chloe happens to look her way and Beca knows she’d been spotted by the way Chloe smiles and becomes a little more lewd with the way her hands brush sand off her chest than the job calls for.

 

But two can play that game.

 

Beca hadn’t yet got around to removing her cover-up, intent on not needing a head-to-toe sunscreen application today, but the moment is too perfect. She smiles and unbuttons her shirt, one of Jesse’s she stole last year that’s long enough to almost reach her knees, to reveal a bikini of her own.

 

Everything that has happened so far this year is made worth it by the way Chloe’s jaw goes slack, followed a second later by the volleyball smacking into her arm and everyone on her team yelling at her to pay attention to the game.

 

* * *

 

“Looking good, Mitchell.”

 

Beca looks up from where she’s digging through a cooler trying to find an orange soda. She doesn’t know the guy, but she does recognize him from school. A senior. She thinks he might be on the football team. Or maybe baseball? It’s after dark and the light from the tiki torches isn’t helping her to put a name to the face. “Um, hey,” she finally says, opting for no name. She glances down at herself and is glad she’s put her shorts back on but wishes she hadn’t lost her cover-up earlier.

 

“You never got to go for your skinnydip at Chloe’s party.”

 

“Mm, well, I’m trying to forget that. I was way too drunk.”

 

He smiles at her and she doesn’t like his vibe at all. “Know what you need?” She doesn’t like any guy who tells her what she needs.

 

“Nope, don’t care.” She turns to leave but he catches her hand.

 

“You need to relax with me in the hot tub.”

 

She tries to pull her hand back but his grip only tightens and alarms start going off in her head. “No, thanks. Pass. Hard pass.”

 

He pulls and it’s easy for him to get her moving with his strength and her size. “Let’s go; you’ll like it.”

 

“No, I don’t -”

 

“She said no, Steven!”

 

_Right. Steven._

 

His hand rips away from her arm and Chloe steps between them. Chloe seems to have a knack for being in the wrong - right? - place at the right - wrong? - time and she stalks forward toward Steven.

 

“Whoa, it’s okay, I’m okay,” Beca says, taking a few quick steps to catch up so she can grab Chloe’s arm to pull her back and inserts herself back between Chloe and Steven; Chloe looks ready to throw him into the Pacific. “I’m fine, Chloe. Can you take me home?”

 

* * *

 

Chloe drives them home in her Jeep, which Beca partly wishes she’d chosen to drive the night of the carnival, but she’s grateful for the rain and the motorcycle and all that came of it.

  
“You know I can handle myself, right?” Beca says when she hears Chloe sigh for the fourth time in two blocks. “Two more seconds and he would have caught my knee with his nuts.”

 

“I know. I’m sorry.”

 

“It’s cool that you look out for me, but you don’t need to.” She sees Chloe’s hands grip the steering wheel tighter. “I don’t need you to be some knight in shining armor.”

 

“I don’t know what to do. I didn’t mean to fall for my brother’s best friend.”

 

Beca stares at her, unsure if she just heard what she thinks she did. She’s about to ask when Chloe drives past her street. “Where are we going?”

 

“I want to show you something.”

 

* * *

 

They drive up a dirt road, park, and then walk another mile or so uphill before crawling through a hole in a chain-link fence. Chloe takes her hand and leads her a bit further until they’re sitting on the ground looking out over the lights of Los Angeles.

 

“Is this another one of your make out spots?” she asks; the moment’s too tense and she defaults to snark which she instantly regrets.

 

Chloe shakes her head. “I only come here alone. Well, until now.”

 

“That was smooth,” Beca says with a laugh and she watches the way Chloe plays with her fingers where their hands sit intertwined on Beca’s thigh. “I can’t believe you brought me up here. You’re crazy.”

 

“Crazy about you.”

 

Beca feels her lungs seize and her heart threaten to leap out of her chest. She wants to throw every bit of caution to the wind because Chloe Beale likes her, but as much as she likes Chloe too, she needs some things to change.

 

“Okay,” she says as she turns to face Chloe and the way Chloe’s eyes drop to her mouth almost make Beca forget what she needs to say. Almost. “If we do this, I want you to stop fighting, even if it’s to help me.”

 

Chloe nods. “Done.”

 

 _That was easy_. “Okay. And I want you to stop treating me like...well, like I’m Jesse’s best friend. You can’t call me kiddo or your little sister and then kiss me; that’s super gross, dude.”

 

Chloe laughs through a nod. “That’s fair.”

 

Beca loves the way Chloe looks when she laughs and it’s the only thing that pushes the next words out of her mouth. “If we do this, nobody can know. Not until I figure out how to tell Jesse.”

 

“I like when you’re bossy,” Chloe says with a smile. “It’s kinda hot.”

 

She has to swallow, at least for now, how those words affect her. “Do you promise? No one can know.”

 

She watches Chloe’s hand lift from her lap to tuck a windblown lock of Beca’s hair behind her ear and feels it stop there to rest on her cheek, thumb brushing her skin gently. “I promise.”

 

Beca lets herself be drawn in then. It’s just one kiss, but Beca feels the ground quake beneath her. They part and Beca feels herself falling, whether it’s into the Earth or into Chloe she’s not sure, because it feels like one in the same as she leans in again, this time pulling Chloe’s free hand up to rest high on her ribs over the band of her bikini top.

 

For a few seconds, Chloe kisses her harder and Beca can feel the desire coursing through her own body and into Chloe’s, and then Chloe pulls away again.

 

“We don’t have to.”

 

Beca looks at her and waits for the conversations to start up again, all the ones that jumbled through her head when they were on their knees in the gazebo. It’s silent though, save for the sound of her own heart and Chloe’s unsteady breathing, and she feels sure as she reaches for a button on Chloe’s shirt, undoing first one, then another, and then a third before Chloe’s kissing her again and pulling Beca down to lie next to her.

 

* * *

 

When Beca wakes, she knows it’s early but for once, she doesn’t mind. It’s the morning sun that’s woken her after spending the night sleeping under the stars with Chloe.

 

She wonders how it is they got here - figuratively and literally.

 

She wonders how long they have until security finds them and chases them away, but as she turns over to find Chloe (it’s not hard, her arms have been wrapped around Beca all night) to kiss her awake at the foot of the W of the Hollywood Sign, she doesn’t really care.


	4. Chapter 4

It’s fun, the sneaking around thing.

 

It’s kind of sexy stealing glances at one another across tables in the library or finding secret hiding places at school where they can kiss. Sometimes Chloe’s super convincing and their hiding places aren’t hidden at all, but rather, conveniently empty classrooms.

 

No one thinks twice about Chloe giving Beca a ride home from school, though one day Jesse does text her asking where she is.

 

She laughs breathlessly as she types out a reply saying she had to stay late to earn some extra credit in Calculus because it’s really kicking her ass but she’ll be over soon and then tosses her phone aside to get back to making out with Chloe on Chloe’s bed.

 

And making out with Chloe in a bed is way, way better than the hard, prickly ground. Except -

 

“We’re supposed to be figuring out how to not get caught,” she says between kisses.

 

“Why? It’s not like anyone would think I _actually_ have a girlfriend.”

 

Beca can’t stop the groan of satisfaction from escaping her throat at the label and she kisses Chloe hard enough to sink her down into her pillows.  

 

A knock at Chloe’s door interrupts them.

 

“Hide!” Chloe whispers. “Just a second!” she yells.

 

“I’m just doing a laundry loop, honey,” Chloe’s mom says from the other side of the door and the threat of parental interruption makes Beca move.

 

She rolls off Chloe and in a moment she will never be proud of, slides herself under the bed. It’s surprisingly clean, at least compared to her own. Nothing is under there but a couple shoeboxes and a pair of socks that probably got kicked under by accident.

 

“Okay, come in!” The door opens and Beca sees Chloe’s mom’s slippered feet enter. “I could have brought my laundry down, Mom.”

 

“It’s okay. I had some time to kill.”

 

Beca sees a hand reach down and snag one of the socks, the one that was half sticking out from the bed. The other is right there with Beca and Mrs. Beale’s hand returns a second later feeling around for it. Beca has nowhere to go if she decides to get down and look for it so she reaches out and pokes the sock into her hand’s path just in time. Beca breathes a sigh of relief.

 

“Don’t forget about dinner on Saturday; gotta celebrate your news!”

 

_News?_

 

“We don’t have to do that, Mom.”

 

“Of course we do! It’s not every day you get accepted to an Ivy League school.”

 

_Ivy League?!_

 

“Oh, and I invited the Mitchells. Do me a favor: be nice to Beca? She kind of has a crush on you.”

 

Beca’s confusion about the Ivy League thing is forgotten for a second when she hears the way Chloe’s trying not to laugh when she replies, “Really? Never would have guessed.”

 

“Mhm. Okay, I’m going to go throw this in the washing machine. Dinner’s warming in the oven. Put this in the dryer in an hour?”

 

“Sure, Mom.”

 

“Thanks, sweetie. See you later.”

 

The door closes and she hears Chloe’s snort of barely contained laughter and Beca slaps her hand on the underside of the bed. “Shut up!” She crawls out to see Chloe laughing into a pillow peeking out at her as she stands and climbs back on top of her. “‘Beca has a crush on you’?”

 

“Well, do you?” Chloe says with a grin as she reaches for the necktie of Beca’s uniform to pull her down and kiss her.

 

“Maybe,” Beca mumbles against her lips and then pulls back. “But I need to show up at the front door in 10 minutes to work on prom stuff with Jesse, so cool your jets.”

 

Chloe throws her a pout that should be illegal but she behaves and releases Beca’s tie so they can start cooling off.

 

“So...Ivy League school?”

 

Chloe shrugs and works on picking at nonexistent lint on her duvet. “It’s no biggie.”

 

“It’s kind of a big deal. Which school?” It didn’t matter which school. All of them were on the other side of the country.

 

“Columbia.”

 

“That’s...Chloe, that’s amazing!” It was amazing that she just learned that Chloe wasn’t only a jock, but she had a brain, too and knew how to use it. The fact that Beca had no idea she was actually a brainiac was weirdly sexy. It also meant that Chloe would be leaving for college in a few short months.

 

“I guess.” Chloe sat up and reached over to help smooth out the damage her hands had done to Beca’s hair. “First, we need to get you downstairs. Lucky for you, I’ve snuck out of my room once or twice.” She winks at Beca and then pulls her out of the bed toward the sliding glass door that led to her own private balcony overlooking the pool and backyard.

 

There’s also a trampoline set up and Beca realizes what Chloe’s getting at. “No way, dude.”

 

“What? I do it all the time. Or we can just go downstairs together and tell Jesse now?”

 

That gets her to move, jumping like an idiot off the balcony and onto the trampoline. The height she jumps from gives her way too much rebound and by the third bounce she loses control and ends up being tossed sideways right into the pool.

  
She’s sputtering when she surfaces and decides to just be thankful she didn’t land on the concrete pool deck.

 

“Hey!”

 

She looks up to see Jesse on a lower balcony than she just jumped from and tries to ignore Chloe one floor higher, still smiling down at her. “Hey, what’s up?”

 

“Are you still wearing your clothes?” he shouts back.

 

She looks at herself. “Yep!”

 

He pauses and then nods. “Okay. I’ll be down in a second.”

 

She takes a breath and lets herself sink; she still needs to finish cooling off after having Chloe’s hands under her skirt for so long and it’s finally starting to pass when the water around her explodes.

 

She pops up to see Jesse floating nearby, grinning at her still wearing his own school uniform. “Nice cannonball, dude.”

 

* * *

 

They sneak off after school and on weekends and go up or down the coast to reduce the chances of running into someone they know while they go for walks on the beach or feed each other ice cream or make out under the piers.

 

Beca’s not sure when she became this person - some gross romantic who’s okay with lying by omission to her best friend’s face on a daily basis - but the way Chloe’s hand skims across her lower back whenever they wait in a line together makes her forget about Jesse.

 

Kind of like she forgot he was coming over after school today because Chloe had followed her into the house when she dropped her off and promptly sat Beca on the bed, knelt down, and reached under her skirt to hook her fingers into elastic and pull.

 

A knock on her door reminds her of their plans and sends Chloe scrambling for Beca’s bedroom window to climb down and escape in a flurry of whispered curses and laughs and one last desperate kiss.

 

She pulls her shirt back on and pulls her underwear up and tries to catch her breath before opening the door. “Hey, what’s up?”

 

“I heard moaning,” Jesse says. _Always direct, that one._

 

She doesn’t hesitate. “I was watching porn.”

 

“Oh. Can I watch?”

 

Beca makes a face. “Dude, no. Wait for me downstairs.”

 

Jesse realizes his mistake and starts backing up right away. “Oh, right, yeah, sorry.”

 

“Yeah, I’ll be down in a few.”

 

* * *

 

She and Jesse end up at the arcade for the first time in months and make their way to the Guitar Hero machine like always. “I really needed this,” she says as they battle against each other to Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.”

 

“Yeah, we haven’t been hanging out much. You’ve been acting weird lately.”

 

Beca feels her stomach start to drop when Jesse stops playing and turns to look at her.

 

“Is this because you don’t have a date to prom? Because if that’s what’s wrong, you can come with Aubrey and me.”

 

 _Oh, sweet, sweet Jesse. You don’t deserve this._ “No, it’s not that. But there’s something you should know.”

 

“Sorry I’m late, guys. Traffic was terrible.” It’s Aubrey arriving and just like that, Jesse’s forgotten Beca was about to tell him something important.

 

“You don’t mind if Beca comes to prom with us, do you?”

 

Aubrey’s hesitation is barely noticeable and Beca can tell it was more from habit than anything. “No, not at all!”

 

“See? Totally cool,” Jesse says with a smile. “What was it you were saying?”

 

“Nothing. That was it. It was about prom.” _Liar._

 

She feels like the biggest asshole in the universe.

 

* * *

 

It doesn’t stop her from meeting up with Chloe after school the next day. They hole up in Chloe’s room fooling around long enough for Beca to feel Chloe suck a hickey onto her neck.

 

Which really doesn’t take that long.

 

She feels it and hisses at the burn and she knows she should ask Chloe not to do that because she has no way to explain such a mark, but she can never seem to think whenever Chloe’s lips are on her body.

 

But honestly, who could blame her?

 

She finally finds her wits when the alarm on her phone goes off; they’d learned to set several for different things, like Jesse getting home from work, which is what today’s alarm was.

 

“This is your 15-minute warning, Miss Beale,” she says when she’s finally gotten a turn to get Chloe on her back and suck a mark onto her skin, too. Her work isn’t quite as obvious; she was thoughtful enough to place it on the swell of Chloe’s right breast. “I know you mauled me. You better help me hide it before Jesse gets home.”

 

She slides backward off Chloe and gets dressed, watching Chloe do the same in that slightly dazed look she gets when Beca stops before Chloe’s ready for her to stop. It almost makes her abandon her plan and fall back into bed but her second alarm goes off, designed exactly for this purpose, and gets them both moving to the bathroom.

 

Chloe’s mind has cleared by the time they get there and she points for Beca to hop up on the counter next to the sink while she pulls out different tubes and bottles of makeup.

 

Beca can’t help herself despite the need to behave, though, and as soon as Chloe steps between her knees to start layering on concealer, she wraps her legs around her waist and jerks her forward right into a kiss that has them both giggling.

 

“Okay, okay,” she finally manages to say and drops her legs. “Please cover this monstrosity. It’s the least you can do.”

 

“I’ll do my best,” Chloe says with a smile.

 

Beca tilts her head a little and feels her starting to work; it’s relaxing to feel Chloe working the different products over her skin with a soft sponge. “You better cover this one up, too,” she says as she trails her fingers over Chloe’s cleavage on display in the tank top she pulled on and she feels herself giving in again as her hand slips further down until it’s covering the breast she just claimed, “if you’re going to walk around in that.”

 

Chloe glances down and then pecks her lips. “You first.”

 

“Mm, just the way I like it.”

 

“Just the way _I_ like it,” Chloe teases back as she starts to lean in.

 

“Hey, Chloe, have you seen Beca?”

 

Beca realizes they never closed the bathroom door and she sees Jesse over Chloe’s shoulder and yanks her hand out of Chloe’s shirt, and then Jesse sees her, and Chloe rotates out of Beca’s legs, makeup still in-hand.

 

“Jess, hey,” Beca says.

 

“What’s going on in here?” he says cautiously as his eyes roam over both of them. She feels his gaze land on her neck. “What happened to your neck?”

 

“Oh, um I-I burned it with my flat iron. Chloe was showing me how to cover it up.”

 

“Why do you need to cover up a burn?” he says with a laugh. “Is it because it looks like a hick-” His smile falls, then, and Beca waits for the ground to swallow her again, but it doesn’t happen. His eyes skip back and forth between them. “Did you do that to her?”

 

“No, Jesse, I -” Chloe starts.

 

She sees his eyes shift again and she knows her revenge mark is noticed when they start tearing. “Really, Beca?” He turns and leaves and she jumps off the counter to follow him.

 

He must have run because she doesn’t catch up until he’s made it outside.

 

“Is there something going on with you and Chloe?” he asks, and Beca knows he already knows the answer.

 

But for some reason, she can’t admit to it. “What? Me and Chloe? No, that’s...no, Jess. Absolutely not.”

 

He presses his lips together and she knows he’s seeing right through her. “Fine. But I can’t be here with her right now. I can’t even think about that happening.”

 

 _Yikes. Super yikes._ “Okay, why don’t you start the car and get the a/c going. I’m going to run up and grab my bag; I left it upstairs.”

 

Jesse just nods and heads toward the garage.

 

* * *

 

“I have to tell him tonight,” she says when she finds Chloe back in her room where she’d left her bag.

 

She expects Chloe to talk her out of it but instead, she offers a simple, “Okay.”

 

“Really? You’re okay if he knows?”

 

She smiles and slides off her bed to walk to where Beca’s standing near the door and kisses her gently. “Totes. That way I can take you to prom.”

 

Beca can’t even believe it; Chloe Beale, the perpetual player that no one’s ever successfully tied down (she hates that term, though she did tie Chloe down last week), just asked her to prom. She grins and kisses her again.

 

“What the hell?”

 

This time the ground does swallow Beca whole. She’s ripped out of the kiss by his voice and sees him standing in the doorway. “Jess, I can explain.” Explain how, she’s not totally sure.

 

“Wow,” he says and then he’s gone down the hallway again.

 

“Wait, Jesse!” She follows him. “Jess, wait a second!” She has to run again because this time he’s actually running away from her and not his anger. “Stop!” she says when she finally catches up.

 

“This is what you’ve been keeping from me?” he asks, already starting to cry.

 

Beca wants to grab him and hug him but knows she can’t. Not now. “You weren’t supposed to find out this way.”

 

“I don’t think I was supposed to find out at all,” he snaps back at her.

 

“Lay off her, Jesse; it’s not all her fault.”

 

Beca’s caught off-guard by Chloe following them.

 

“Oh, my God! I can’t even believe you,” he says, turning to shout at Chloe. “Telling people to stay away from Beca like you want to protect her when you’re really treating her like one of those girls you pick up at the club!”

 

Beca doesn’t know if she’s more taken aback by Jesse’s accusation of Chloe or that he thinks so little of Beca, but she doesn’t have a chance to react because Chloe does it for her.

 

“Don’t talk about Beca that way! It’s not like that at all!”

 

He looks at Beca. “So you’re telling me you two _haven’t_ slept together?”

 

She can’t lie. Not anymore. Their silence speaks a thousand words.

 

“I knew it. You’ve been fucking my sister and lying to me.”

 

Beca feels her own tears starting. “No -”

 

“Jesse, that’s enough.”

 

“No, it’s not! She doesn’t know what she’s doing with you!”

 

“Don’t talk to her like she’s dumb; she’s your best friend!”

 

“And you’re fucking her!”

 

The words reverberate around them and no one, even Jesse, has anything more to say. He turns to leave and starts running toward his car and Beca follows.

 

“Please, Jess. Please don’t leave.”

 

“So much for Rule Number Nine,” he says as he shoves his keys into the ignition.

 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

 

He stares straight ahead. “My entire life, Chloe’s gotten everything she’s ever wanted. The only thing I had that she didn’t was you. And now she has that, too.”

 

“Jesse.”

 

“It’s okay.” He starts his car. “You deserve each other.”

 

She watches him drive away and then feels Chloe’s hands on her shoulders. But now they burn, and not in a good way. Her best friend is furious at her because of her relationship with Chloe, and suddenly Chloe feels like the enemy. None of this would have happened if not for Chloe.

 

Deep down, she knows it’s all her own fault.

 

It doesn’t stop her from shrugging off Chloe’s attempt to comfort her and bite a, “Leave me alone,” at her before walking herself home.

 

Chloe doesn’t follow her.

 

* * *

 

She’s on day three of refusing to leave her bed for anything except school after ruining her relationships with Jesse and Chloe when there’s a knock on her bedroom door. Her dad pops his head in tentatively after a few seconds of silence and offers a cautious, “Hey. There’s someone here to see you.”

 

She sits up quickly at the possibility. “Jesse?”

 

He shakes his head and she turns to see who’s waiting in the doorway.

 

“Hi, Beca,” Mrs. Beale says with a kind smile. “I was hoping maybe we could talk?”

 

She nods and waits until her dad leaves before letting her tears start to well up again. “I don’t know what there is to say. I’m really sorry for lying to Jesse and ruining our friendship.”

 

She watches Mrs. Beale smooth the duvet covering Beca’s lap and she takes comfort in it. “I was friends with your mom for _decades_. But we fought. It’s bound to happen when you’re so close to someone. But I can’t remember what a single one of those fights was about now; what I remember is that we always forgave each other.”

 

Beca feels herself falling apart. “I don’t know if that can happen.”

 

“He wants to forgive you; I know he does. Give it time.”

 

* * *

 

The next few weeks are lonely ones.

 

Chloe stops coming to school. There are rumors she might not even graduate because she’s missing so many classes.

 

Jesse refuses to reply to her texts or answer her calls and she can’t really blame him, though she isn’t sure how to apologize if he refuses to listen to her.

 

She tries to find the silver lining in things which is difficult for someone whose default setting is pessimism, but after three days of taking the bus to school she gets her butt into Driver’s Ed so she can work on getting her license.

 

It’s when she’s stopped a crosswalk waiting for a little boy on a scooter to cross the street and she’s reminded of her neon blue cast when it hits her.

 

Rule Number Seven.

 

She skips fourth period to run down the street to the ice cream shop and waits by Jesse’s locker with a waffle cone of his favorite fudge ripple with rainbow sprinkles.

 

_No matter how mad you are at your best friend, you have to forgive them if they give you ice cream._

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Jesse looks at her for a minute and then takes the cone, and for a second Beca’s heart soars with hope.

 

Instead, he steps around her and drops it in the trash can and walks away.

 

* * *

 

It’s another week of moping alone.

 

Beca ends up at the arcade. It has so many good memories that it’s easy to forget, at least for a few minutes, that she really, really messed up everything good in her life.

 

Those few minutes generated by the distraction of a video game always end, though, and she’s reminded that every game would be better if Jesse was there to play it with her.

 

She’s thinking about that while she intentionally and repeatedly crashes her car in a _Fast and the Furious_ game and feels herself being watched.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be done with it in a second,” she says to whoever’s waiting their turn and finally looks up to see it’s Jesse, who just looks at her and then keeps walking. She doesn’t say anything, just climbs out of the game, and watches him walk to their Guitar Hero game where he drops two tokens into it.

 

She watches him stare at the screen prompting for Player One to pick an instrument and then reach into his pocket to drop two more tokens into the Player Two slot.

 

He finally looks at her, then, and it’s barely there, but she sees him nod a little to invite her to join and she doesn’t hesitate. She also doesn’t say anything as they both lift the guitar straps over their necks.

 

But when the song starts, neither of them play.

 

They’re about to be booed off stage when Jesse finally strums a chord, and then another, and then jerks his head at the screen to get Beca to play, too.

 

So she does.

 

They play through the song until it ends and they’re both laughing and shaking out their left hands after having not played for so long. Beca looks up at him, never feeling more like she needed her best friend, and just as she’s about to apologize again, he pulls her into a hug.

 

* * *

 

“You’re my best friend, you know,” Beca says as they sit on the balcony at Jesse’s house to let their feet dangle above the pool. She knows Chloe’s there somewhere; both her vehicles are in the driveway but she hasn’t seen her and it makes her chest ache. She knows she and Jesse still have stuff to work out about what happened before she can try to make amends with Chloe, who also won’t reply to her texts or phone calls, and as much as she dreads it, she wants to rip it off like a Band-Aid and get it over with.

 

“Stop the presses! Breaking news!” Jesse replies with a laugh as he knocks his shoulder into hers.

 

She shakes her head and he sobers at her mood. “I always want us to be friends. But being my best friend doesn’t mean you get to tell me who I can love. Like with Aubrey. What if I didn’t like hanging out with her? What would you do?”

 

“I...I guess I’d break up with her.”

 

“That’s just it, dude. You shouldn’t have to just because I didn’t want you dating her.”

 

He sees where it’s going and scoots away so he can turn to face her. “That’s not the same thing as you and Chloe.”

 

“Jess, we made those rules when we were six-years-old.”

 

“What are you saying?”

 

This is it. The blade on which their friendship now balances. “I’m saying I love Chloe. And I want to be with her. And I’m sorry if that hurts you and I’m sorry I lied to you about it. But I’d be lying again if I didn’t tell you I love her. And if you can’t accept that, then…” she has to stop because she realizes tears are streaming down her face and she pushes them away. “Then maybe we can’t be friends anymore.”

 

Jesse’s crying, too, she notices but he doesn’t try to wipe away his tears. “You’re making a big mistake.”

 

“But it’s mine to make.”

 

He nods and looks down at his hands. When he lifts his head again he seems to have found resolution. “I just want you to be happy. And if she makes you happy…”

 

Beca nods. “She really, really does.”

 

“Okay. Then it’s settled.”

 

“What is?”

 

“I’ll butt out and we stay friends.”

 

Relief floods her and she slides over to hug him. His arms feel good around her and she feels safe again. “That’s all I want.”

 

“Well, that and my sister, right?”

 

“Shut up,” she says with a sputtering laugh as she tries to shove her away out of his arms but he won’t let her. He only wraps her up more tightly.

 

* * *

 

Beca never saw herself as being excited about going to prom. It was such a cliche, something other girls tittered about beginning in elementary school, and something she really saw no point in.

 

However, as she steps into the heels to finish off the black satin jumpsuit Jesse had helped her pick out at the last minute after their hatchet-burying yesterday, she can’t help but feel that same giddy excitement. There’s something about a fancy, fun night with her friends and classmates that does feel like some kind of rite of passage marking the end of the school year for her; for others, it marked the end of high school altogether.

 

The party is already in high gear when she arrives with Jesse and Aubrey. The carnival fundraiser must have been a huge success because the prom committee, of which Beca excused herself from when everything blew up in her face, has transformed the hotel ballroom into a Gatsby-esque art deco paradise. Photos, larger than life-size, adorn the walls. She recognizes the moments quickly: Luke’s fashion show in detention, Beca’s striptease at Chloe’s house party...she really wishes that one wasn’t six-feet-tall and hanging on the wall at eye-level.

 

The prom’s theme is “Memories” and Beca finds it sadly ironic; this year has been nothing but memory-making moments for her, some bad, many good, all remarkable. A little part of her wishes she could forget, though. She wishes she could forget about Chloe and how much she loves her.

 

It takes her breath away when she thinks about it, that never once in their months together did she tell Chloe she loved her, even when Chloe said it to her first.

 

She wishes she knew where Chloe was. She still hadn’t shown up at school, Jesse didn’t talk about her, and Beca didn’t dare ask.

 

Her stroll down her memory lane is interrupted by someone from Student Council making a speech about taking a walk down memory lane and she looks up, confused by the coincidence. But that’s all it is, a coincidence, and a set of double doors at the end of the ballroom open to reveal a gallery of photos like those displayed in the main room.

 

She walks through it with Jesse and Aubrey and each photo stirs up something bittersweet within her. It gets more difficult the further they go thanks to Chloe showing up in so many photos, whether it’s at the Senior Halloween Party or on an athletic field, or in the background of a photo taken at the carnival.

 

She hears a commotion further down and Jesse takes her hand to investigate.

 

What she finds is that their kissing booth has been reassembled, lights and all.

 

She knew the booth had been a hit but she wasn’t sure why that warranted it being resurrected at prom.

 

She kind of wishes it wasn’t. It’s stirring up way too many feelings inside her for her liking.

 

“Be right back,” Jesse says and then he’s hopping up onto the booth to pull on the blindfold that’s there waiting. Their classmates start clapping in anticipation and it’s not long before Aubrey’s following him and pulling him into a kiss where they first truly met.

 

It’s still going when she sees someone step out from behind the booth and she knows who it is without having to look. But she has to look.

 

Chloe takes her breath away.

 

Her pure white, floor-length spaghetti-strapped dress is stunning against her sun-kissed skin and her hair, that silky smooth gorgeous red hair, hangs over her shoulder in a loose braid. “I think you’re next?” Chloe says with a soft smile.

 

She’d almost forgotten what it was like to have Chloe look at her like she was the only person in the room. The catch was that she usually _was_ the only other person in the room if Chloe was looking at her the way she is now.

 

But now they’re in a room full of their classmates and everyone is waiting with bated breath for what will happen next.

 

Including Beca. So she steps forward and up onto the booth, and it’s clear Chloe’s excited, but she also looks nervous, which is not something Beca’s accustomed to seeing in Chloe.

 

“Where’ve you been?” It’s the only thing she can think to ask right now.

 

“I had to get away. Clear my head for a little bit.”

 

“Is it clear now?”

 

Chloe’s laugh is airy as she nods. “Yeah, all clear.”

 

“You know, you just left me.” Beca’s not angry, not anymore. But she’s still hurt. “After everything, you disappeared.”

 

“I know. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what else to do; I couldn’t keep coming between you and Jesse.”

 

She’d almost forgotten Jesse was there, or anyone for that matter, until Chloe gestured his way. When she looked, Jesse was still there in the booth a few feet away with Aubrey, watching.

 

“I can take care of myself, you know. I don’t need you to decide that I don’t need you around.”

 

“No, I know that. I shouldn’t have left. I just -” Her voice catches and Beca sees her getting choked up. “Beca, I love you.”

 

Beca’s heard her say it before. Several times, in fact. But none have felt so poignant, so earnest as this, and she hears a collective gasp behind her at the words reminding her yet again that they have an audience for what should be a very private moment.

 

“I’m saying it right here because I don’t care who knows that I’m your girlfriend. If you’ll take me back, I mean.”

 

There are more gasps, and murmuring, and a few muffled squeals, but Beca tunes them out to focus only on Chloe.

 

Chloe Beale, who prided herself on her singledom and independence and ability to avoid slipping into a relationship despite her many, many suitors, is asking to be her girlfriend on a stage at her Senior Prom.

 

“Do you promise to stop doing what you think is best for me without talking to me about it first?”

 

“Cross my heart,” Chloe says as she draws an X over her chest with her finger.

 

She thinks about it for a second but it’s more for show than anything; she made up her mind the moment she saw Chloe step into the booth. “Columbia, huh?” Chloe nods. “When do you leave?”

 

“Two weeks,” Chloe says with a jagged breath and Beca realizes she’s on the verge of breaking down, so she smiles.

 

“Will you show me the best place to get pizza when I come visit?”

 

Chloe just nods and Beca doesn’t need more than that; she steps forward and Chloe’s leaning to kiss her before she’s even all the way there.

 

She hears her whimper and she gets pulled in even tighter until Chloe breaks their kiss to pull her in all the way and hug her.

 

It’s then that she sees Jesse again as she looks over from where her chin is resting on Chloe’s shoulder as they embrace. He’s watching them and, Beca realizes, he’s smiling, and it’s the first time since all this began that she feels that, yeah.

 

Everything is going to be okay.


End file.
